Associations

[Carmen Addamo]

Guys is it possible to associate two cabinets to form an assembly. Associating display boards to a cabinet works but when trying to do same to two cabinets the associations tab is not active.

[Kerry Fullington]

Carmen,

You just save the two cabinets as an assembly.

In the Cabinet Editor click Save then in the save dialog check the Save Assembly button. Everything open in the cabinet editor at that time will be saved as an assembly.

[Carmen Addamo]

Kerry Thanks. Let me explain what I am trying to do and maybe you or someone else can suggest a good approach.

I have a directory of kitchen cabinets. I also have a directory of wall fillers and end panel. The wall fillers/end panels are just cabinets with all parts removed except a right or left side and they have a stile attached to them. I place cabinets in a room an then for example I come to a wall I place the filler as the last cabinet. That works fine except all those fillers uppers, lowers, end panels etc on one job all get numbered as individual cabinets. This leads to excess clutter on a floor plan. The shop guys have to reference the floor plan to see if a cabinet gets a filler/end panel so they can attach it to cabinet. If it's not attached to cabinet the field guys can miss it. It would be just easier to make the cabinet an assembly and then all those fillers are on the cut sheet for the cabinet and also on the cabinet line drawings.

If I could just place a cabinet in a room then edit the cab to install a filler on it. Associate the two cabs and back to the room it goes. But without associate the filler cab gets lost going back to custom layout. Now I could take the two cabs, make them an assembly and then save them to a directory created just for that job. Go back to custom layout, delete the original cab and install the newly created assembly. More work but not terrible. However, now I end up with a directory for every job. I wouldn't want to delete the directories until the job(s) are completed which could be months between design to completion.

As I'm writing this and thinking about it maybe the best approach is to create a kitchen cab assemblies directory and resize and reconnect each cabinet on a individual job basis. Just trying to speed up the design process while simultaneously making things easier for the shop/field.

[Kerry Fullington]

Carmen,

To do what you want just use an up down stretcher to make your filler. You can use the advanced associations to make it easier to place.

The downside is the fact you have to take the cabinet to the Cabinet Editor to change the filler. We use cabinets as fillers as you mentioned above. The cabinet is named Filler Left, Filler Right etc.

[Ralph Balanik]

I am not sure if this will help but a here is a suggestion to play with.

Create a filler using a cabinet back from a "FRAMELESS" base cabinet Remove all parts except the back and set the back material to the same material and thickness you use for fillers.. In the main menu in "settings/preferences" "define standard dimensions" set minimum cabinet width to some minimum width you would make a filler" THIS HAS TO BE DONE WITH SOME AWARENESS OF FUTURE CONSEQUENCE when making narrow cabinets". Set the back edges flush to the outside of the sides top and deck. In "back construction parameters" set the back inset using a formula "cabinet depth minus back thickness". Create a bottom inset equal to whatever distance you want the bottom of a base filler to be above the floor eg: 3.5' might be where you face frame measures to the floor. In the main menu set the cabinet width to some width you want as a filler eg: 3". Save this simply as "base filler" and do not apply any number in the name.

When you use it in custom layout in a framless job it will automatically place itself with its face flush to the face of the base cabinet you place it beside regardless if you align it to the back center or front of the cabinet. If you use it in a framed cabinet job it will align only to the face frame so in order to be flush with the front of the frame as in the first example you have to set it to align to the back if the back and the face frame stock are both .75.

in the cut list it will be called "base filler" and will have a cabinet number assigned. The only part listed for cutting will be listed as "back" but it will have the correct cut size listed in the cut list. If you place it between a cabinet and a wall, or between two cabinets, and the distance is less than 3 inches, it will ask you if you want to resize it to fit. If you create a filler using a tall cabinet back, and an upper cabinet back,using the same method, those might be the only three fillers required for most layout work. When you want to place a filler in custom layout it should place itself like any other cabinet you would place in a job and you can specify height and width as you would any cabinet. In line drawings it will show up numbered like a cabinet but otherwise should not clutter up the drawing any more than a normal filler and the number can be moved, hid, or deleted if necessary. You can use a leader and note in the line drawings editor to label it as a filler for the benefit of installers or builders.